The History of Provincetown Told Through Its Built Environment

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8 Cottage Street

8 Cottage Street, by David W. Dunlap (2008).

8 Cook Street, by David W. Dunlap (2009).

In lodging service for at least eight decades, 8 Cottage was built between 1850 and 1870. From the 1930s through the 1950s, it was run by Ellen Rosa as the Paul Revere Lodge. As such it was a center of Portuguese life, as Mrs. Rosa was the chairwoman of the Ladies’ Council of the Portuguese-American Civic League. One of her guests, in 1934, was a young actor named Garson Kanin. Through the 1990s, Lucinda Browne operated No. 8 as the Iva-Tel Guest House. Stephen Mascilo and Trevor Pinker bought the Iva-Tel in 1998 and rechristened it the Oxford. (That was where the two Englishmen had met in 1974.) They closed it in 2010 and turned their attention to Pink Choice, a website for gay and lesbian travelers. The house has returned to private use.

More than 2,000 buildings and vessels are searchable on buildingprovincetown.com. The Building Provincetown book is available for purchase ($20) at Town Hall, Office of the Town Clerk, 260 Commercial Street, Provincetown 02657.